Royal cemetery from Second Intermediate Period and pottery workshop discovered in Sohag

Egypt Independent

14-03-2025

The Egyptian-American archaeological mission from the University of Pennsylvania discovered a royal tomb from the Second Intermediate Period in the 'Jabal Anubis' necropolis in Abydos. The Egyptian archaeological mission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities also discovered a complete Roman-era pottery workshop in the village of Banawit.
Sharif Fathi, the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, confirmed that the announcement of these two new discoveries in Sohag Governorate will not only promote the tourism diversity that the Egyptian tourist destination enjoys and introduce the world to the ancient Egyptian civilization, but also help researchers in their research work and highlight one of the roles of the Supreme Council of Antiquities as a scientific institution. It also reflects the Ministry's attention to both foreign and Egyptian archaeological missions in various archaeological sites across the Republic, in revealing more of the secrets and history of ancient Egyptian civilization.
For his part, Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, emphasized the importance of these two discoveries, as the discovery of the royal tomb in Abydos provides new scientific evidence of the development of royal tombs in the 'Jabal Anubis' necropolis, which dates back to the era of the 'Abydos Dynasty,' a series of kings who ruled in Upper Egypt between 1700-1600 BC. It also adds new information to the kings of this dynasty and a deeper understanding of the complex political history of the Second Intermediate Period in Egypt.
As for the discovery of the pottery workshop in Banawit, it indicates that this workshop was one of the largest factories that supplied the ninth region with pottery and glass, as it contains a large group of kilns, spacious warehouses for storing vessels, and a set of 32 ostraca in Demotic script and Greek language that explain the commercial transactions at that time and the method of paying taxes.
Mohamed Abdel Badie, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that studies conducted on the royal tomb in Abydos indicate that it belongs to one of the kings preceding King Seneb Kay, whose tomb was discovered in Abydos by the mission in 2014, and that it is much larger than other previously known tombs attributed to the 'Abydos Dynasty,' noting that the name of the tomb's owner has not yet been identified.
Joseph Wegner, head of the Egyptian-American mission working in Abydos, stated that the royal tomb was found at a depth of about 7 meters below ground level, and consists of a burial chamber made of limestone, covered with mud-brick vaults originally reaching about 5 meters high. It also contains remains of inscriptions on both sides of the entrance leading to the burial chamber of the goddesses Isis and Nephthys, with yellow script bands that once bore the king's name in hieroglyphs. The style of the decorations and texts is similar in its style to those previously discovered in the tomb of King Seneb Kay.
Wegner added that the mission will conduct further research and study in the coming period to determine the tomb's date precisely.
The Jabal Anubis necropolis is one of the most important necropolises in the Abydos area. It is a royal necropolis, and the mountain there takes the shape of a pyramid, which is why King Senusret III (1874-1855 BC) chose it to build his massive tomb beneath that natural pyramidal peak, in a precedent that was the first of its kind in Egyptian civilization. It was also chosen by a number of kings of the Thirteenth Dynasty, and after them, the kings of the 'Abydos Dynasty,' who built their tombs in the depths of the desert near the mountain, the most famous of which is the tomb of King Seneb Kay, which is considered the oldest decorated royal tomb in ancient Egypt.
Abdel Badie clarified that studies and initial evidence conducted at the pottery workshop site in Banawit village indicate that the site was used during the Byzantine era. The site was also reused as a cemetery in the seventh century AD, and its use possibly extended to the fourteenth century AD. A group of burials and mud-brick tombs were found at the site, containing skeletal remains and mummies, which are likely family tombs for men and women, with the majority of these burials being children.
The most prominent of these burials is a child's mummy in a sleeping position with a colored fabric cap on his head, and a skull of a woman in her thirties. Also, some roots of wheat plants and remnants of ancient plant seeds, including doum palm and barley, were discovered.